What if Wendigo
by Katy M VT
Summary: What if their dad was waiting for the in Colorado?


Wendigo-What if their dad was waiting for them?

Sam and Dean pulled up to the ranger station near Black Rock. Just as they were getting out of the car, they saw their dad walking out of the ranger station.

Dad noticed Sam and said "What are you doing here? I told you if you left to stay gone."

"Fine," Sam answered. "I'll go." He turned to leave not really knowing where he was going to go. He was in the middle of nowhere and had no place to live since his apartment had burned down last week. But if his dad didn't want him around, he wasn't going to stay.

Dean intervened as usual. "Dad, Sam's staying. Where did you go, anyway?"

"I thought I had a lead on the thing that killed your mother, but I was wrong. Why are you with Sam?"

Sam had wandered off to the edge of the woods and Dean looked over at him. The kid looked like he was just going to break down any second.

"I went to go get him to help me find you," Dean answered.

"Well, now that you've found me, you should send him back home. He's been out of hunting too long, he's going to get hurt."

"He doesn't have a home anymore. When we got back from Jericho, his apartment caught fire…with his girlfriend burning on the ceiling."

"What??" John almost shouted.

"Yeah, it's got to be the same thing that killed mom, right? That can't be a coincidence."

"No, I wouldn't think so," John agreed. He walked over to where Sam was standing.

"I'm so sorry, Sammy," he said.

Sam just nodded. He didn't know what to say. They stared at each other for a couple of seconds.

"Why are we here, Dad?" Sam asked to break the awkward silence.

"Something is killing hikers in this area. I've done some research and it's happened before. There are three campers missing right now. I'm going to go look for them and see if I can't figure out what is doing it."

Dean had walked up while they were speaking. "What do you think is doing it?"

John answered, "Black dog, maybe, or a skin walker. We'll head out tomorrow."

The next morning, they drove up to the head of the path in John's truck. When they got there, they found 3 people looking like they were about to head up into the mountains.

"I wouldn't go out there if I were you," John said.

"Who are you?" the oldest of the 3 asked. He was a grizzled looking man, holding a rifle and other supplies.

"We're rangers." John answered. "Some people have gone missing recently and we don't think it's safe out there.

"We know about the missing people," the lone girl of the group said. "My brother is one of them and we're going to go find him."

"Well, if you're set on it, we'll go with you. I'm John and this is Dean and Sam."

"I'm Hayley, this is my other brother Ben, and our guide Roy."

They headed out. About an hour into the hike, Dean started making conversation with Roy. "So, you've done a little hunting, Roy?"

"More than a little," Roy answered.

"What do you hunt?" Dean asked.

"Mostly deer, some bear, too," Roy replied.

"Yeah? Yogi or Bambi ever hunt you back?" Dean asked.

Roy didn't answer but yanked Dean back hard. Everybody froze to watch the altercation. "What's the problem, Roy?"

"You really should watch where you're stepping, Ranger." Roy said with an emphasis on the last word.

They all looked down to see a bear trap.

Hayley walked up to John and said, "You guys aren't rangers. You didn't pack any provisions."

John answered her, "We're here to find out what is really going on and that is all you need to know."

Sam rolled his eyes. His dad would make no headway with that attitude.

"Hayley, over here," Roy yelled.

The rest of them ran over to where Roy was and found the remnants of a campsite. "Looks like a grizzly was here," Roy said.

"Help," came a shout.

They all dropped their packs and equipment and ran to where the plea was coming from. When they got there, there was nothing there.

"It sounded like it was coming from over here, didn't it?" Hayley asked.

"Let's get back to the camp," Sam said urgently.

When they arrived, they found all their stuff missing.

"I need to speak to you two alone," Sam said to John and Dean.

They walked out a bit into the woods. "What is it?" John asked gruffly.

"I think it's a wendigo," Sam said.

"That's ridiculous," John countered, "Wendigos are in the Pennsylvania woods. I've never heard of one this far west."

"Think about it dad, mimicking a human voice."

"No, Sam, you're wrong."

"Then what is it? It's no skin walker or black dog, that's for sure."

"OK, take it easy guys," Dean soothed. "I think Sam might be right. I mean what else could it be?"

"Maybe," Dad conceded.

They returned to the rest of the group and Sam said, "Things have gotten more complicated, we need to leave."

"Don't worry kid, I can take care of whatever is out there," Roy said.

"It's not me I'm worried about. You're just going to piss it off. It's a better hunter and smarter than you."

"Listen you little punk, I've been hunting these woods since your mommy was still singing you to sleep." Roy answered belligerently.

"Oh, yeah, you ever hunt a w" Sam was cut off as Roy shoved him.

"Hey!" John yelled. Nobody touched his sons.

"Take it easy everybody," Dean said. "We need to settle in for the night for protection."

Later that night, John and Dean were drawing Anasazi symbols to keep out the wendigo and explaining to Hayley and Ben. Roy was a bit skeptic to say the least. Sam sat outside the circle, just staring off into space. Dean was about to go talk to him when they heard a shout for help.

"Sam!" Dean yelled. Sam got up and went into the circle. That was encouraging at least. He didn't have a total death wish.

"Just stay cool everybody and stay inside the circle," John ordered.

"That's no grizzly," Roy announced. He shot out into the trees and yelled, "I think I got it." He started to run after it.

"Roy, no!" Dean yelled. He and John started to run after Roy after telling Sam to stay and look after Hayley and Ben.

Nobody returned. In the morning, Sam said to Hayley and Ben, "OK, we have to go find them."

"Why would any of them still be alive?" Hayley asked.

"More than anything a wendigo knows how to survive long winters. He keeps his victims alive so he can feed on them later. Wherever he's keeping them, it's dark and safe."

They set off following a trail of claw prints.

"Hey, look at this," Ben said. He was pointing to a trail of M&M's.

"That's better than bread crumbs," Sam said.

They followed the M&M's to an abandoned mine shaft. They walked in and narrowly missed bumping into the wendigo on his way out to hunt..most likely them. They walked a little farther on and found John, Dean, and Hayley and Ben's brother Tommy tied to the ceiling of the shaft.

They untied them and started out of the cave. They didn't get far when the wendigo returned.

"We'll never outrun it," Hayley said. After all, Tommy had been tied up for several days and John and Dean weren't in the greatest shape ever.

"Dean and I will distract it. Sam, you get the other s out of here and down the mountain," John ordered.

"Yes, sir," Sam replied, obedient for once in his life.

Dean and John took off yelling for the wendigo and Sam and the others headed for the exit. They soon came upon the wendigo, though. They were cornered.

Sam looked down on the ground and saw a flare gun. He picked it up and shot it at the wendigo and it went up in flames. Hearing the commotion, John and Dean came running. John looked at Sam in amazement. He didn't think he had it in him. He had been out of hunting for so long and he hadn't been that enthusiastic about it in the first place. He figured that in the last four years he had forgotten everything he had known.

The next day, after they had gotten the others back to safety and had checked into a motel to rest up for a couple, John approached Sam to talk.

"Look, Sam, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kicked you out of the family when you left for school. I was just worried about you. And I can't tell you how sorry I am about your girlfriend. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, let alone my son. Do you think we can start over?"

"I'd like that Dad," Sam answered. John hugged him as Dean walked in from getting take out. Dean smiled. They were going to be a family again.

The End


End file.
